Last week we booked a cruise to AK in August. One of the big selling points for us was that Princess requires all passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated. We paid in full and booked tickets to Seattle. All was paid and finished on Wednesday.

Then just 2 days later the story broke that FL Gov. DeSantis and the CDC reached an impasse in mediation, and long story short, if he's successful in court they will throw out the Conditional Sailing Order and they not be able to run cruises this summer. The news story specifically mentioned that Alaska cruises might not go. This would be terribly disappointing and I just wish we knew how this will play out so we can make another plan if necessary.

Has anyone else been following this story? I'm hoping our Florida Fodorites can provide some insight, as I imagine this has been a big news story there.

I should state for the record that this is a first world problem and I'm fortunate to be dealing with this and not something a lot worse.

I have no intel, but I sure hope you can go!

Sorry about the uncertainty. That can be anxiety-inducing. I really think you'll be okay though.

I am sorry for you, PM.
DeSantis is a *****, and I don't see how he can get away with this.

I just don't understand what he's thinking. Covid was a disaster on many levels. Among other things, it destroyed the cruise industry last year, which is a big part of Florida's economy. I wish he could just be happy that ships are sailing again, and it will be a lot safer with vaccine requirements.

Moved to Cruise forum

The federal law that allows Alaska cruises this year (by permitting them to bypass closed Canadian ports, ordinarily a requirement of the Passenger Vessel Services Act) requires that the cruise lines obtain a "conditional sailing certificate" from the CDC that indicates the ships and crews are in compliance with the CDC's Covid policies (vaccination of crews, onshore medical arrangements in the case of disease, etc.) Florida is saying these tests and procedures are illegal in Florida, so the cruise lines might not be able to sail if they can't get the certificates because of the Florida law.

The federal district court ordered the industry and State to mediate the case, but the federally-appointed mediator said the talks are kaput as of three days ago.

IANAL, but my guess is that the federal judge will rule against Florida as this would be a clear case of one state infringing on another state's (Alaska) rights, which is sort of why we have a federal government in the first place.

DeSantis is losing face in this big time, not to mention truly POing Alaska.

He is that. Port Canaveral wants to sail and the ships want people vaccinated over 16. I want an app for COVID vaccine not just that card.

The latest development (from the Sun-Sentinel newspaper of 8 June):

"Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced Monday that it plans to resume cruising from Miami in August with fully vaccinated passengers, a plan that threatens to defy orders of Gov. Ron DeSantis and creates yet more uncertainty about one of South Florida’s most important tourist draws.

The cruise line’s announcement offered no indication that DeSantis has agreed to exempt cruise lines from his edict banning businesses from requiring vaccines, nor did it suggest that any sort of compromise had been reached between Norwegian and the governor.

Instead, it creates confusion about plans of cruise lines that in recent days have announced diverging strategies for resuming operations — with some planning test voyages, some requiring vaccines and some welcoming people on board with masks and social distancing."

Royal Caribbean seems to have caved to FL and TX and is making vaccinations optional. Whether they or their passengers will be allowed in any ports remains to be seen.

Royal Caribbean has said it chose not to require vaccines for upcoming Florida-based cruises aboard its Royal Caribbean International brand because those cruises are popular with families who have unvaccinated children, which would make it difficult to achieve 95% vaccination rates.

They could have required adults and teens to be vaccinated, and made exceptions for children under 12. I had planned on doing a Caribbean cruise with my Granddaughter, who will be vaccinated as soon as she turns 12. Now, I will not. I do not wish to be on a ship with a bunch of unvaccinated people.

It appears vaccines aren't keeping covid off the cruises as two different lines of vaxxed passengers have people testing positive for covid. I would want to know what the plan is for passengers testing positive. Isolation? Off at the next port and isolated there?

https://news.yahoo.com/two-passenger...223310645.html

Update: Although the ruling went in favor of DeSantis, the Alaska cruises will go. YAY!! Now we can get excited about this trip.

Hooray for you, PM!

August 2021? Interesting. Cruises out of San Francisco start in October to Mexico, and to Alaska in 2022. Good for you, P_M!

Alaska cruises this year are round trip out of Seattle.